Microsoft happy with high Wii sales
The news that Nintendo sold more than 720,000 Wii systems across the US in March hasn't phased Microsoft at all, who believe that high sales of the console will only be good news for them in the long run.Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's Product Manager for Xbox and Xbox Live, believes that Nintendo is merely grooming its young Wii audience ready for when they graduate to hard-core gaming. Once that happens, Greenberg is counting on much of that audience crossing over to the Xbox 360 realm.
"We think Nintendo's success, to be honest, is great for us. They're doing great things to help broaden the audience in the industry. We're playing a role as well," Greenberg told Next-Gen.biz.
"It's interesting, because we're not really targeting the same consumer with the same kind of experience, but in many ways we're finding that as we grow and broaden...a lot of that audience is going to be graduating up from the Wii experience. We think we're a great complement to that. What Nintendo's doing is great for the industry, but it's great for us as well, " he concluded.
Since Nintendo launched the Wii, Microsoft has awoken to the fact that the family audience should not be ignored. The release of the affordable Xbox 360 arcade model before Christmas was aimed specifically at families and was an attempt to close the gap between themselves at Nintendo over that period. They've still got a long way to go though, because despite family-friendly titles, such as Viva Pinata proving popular with the younger crowd, the Xbox 360 still has more 'M' (Mature-rated) games then any other console.
The Xbox 360 has always been marketed to a maturer audience from the outset, so Greenberg could well be right in his assumptions. Once the Wii whippper-snappers grow up, Microsoft will be poised to lure them in with its impressive array of action candy. Fancy a slice of Gears of War 2, kiddies?
Source :: Next-gen .biz
